Those of you who read my other blog Sketch42 know that all year long I have been on a quest to eat local and organic food. (And this was before Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution!) You also know that IT AINT EASY! By mid-Feburary my family was quite sick of butternut squash, cabbage and apples…. Thankfully, Spring is here and I will soon be planting my garden in New Jersey. But this year, I will also be planting another garden. A little herb garden on my window sill.

Michael Pollan author of In Defense of Food, Food Rules and The Omnivore’s Dilemma (just some light reading about the current abysmal state of the industrial food system) lists growing your own food as the GREENEST thing you can possibly do.(Keeping Shabbat is also on his list!!!) It’s also the healthiest food you will ever eat.

Here are the instructions for setting up your own herb garden:

1. You need one large pot, or a few smaller pots.

2. Put gravel or rocks over drainage hole.

3. Fill pot with soil mix – to 1” from top of pot

4. Use an organic fertilizer and mix in with soil

5. Scatter herb seeds on surface

6. Cover with soil according to directions on packet (some herbs seeds should not be covered)

– Light requirements: 6 hours in a sunny window for most herbs, 4 is OK for rosemary, mint, and parsley.
– You could also use a grow light. It should be approximately 16 inches above the plants and needs to be on for 12 to 14 hours to provide the equivalent of 6 hours sunlight. It looks like a fluorescent light tube.
– Drainage: All herbs require especially good drainage. The containers must have drainage holes on the bottom, and Leda recommend adding additional perlite or sand to a commercial potting soil mix (1 part perlite or sand to 3 parts mix).
– Watering: Overwatering is one of the most common mistakes people make when growing herbs indoors. The surface of the soil must be allowed to dry to a depth of 1-inch before watering, and then it should be a good, deep watering (until water flows through the drainage holes).
– Feeding: Herbs should be fed once a month with a half-strength organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion.

OR… You can buy ready made kits that make it super easy to grow your own herbs.